Contrary to the believe that women and youths protested in minna on Monday against hunger and high cost of living, the Niger State Governor, Umar Mohammed Bago has indicated that they laid siege on the highway with the plan to highjack and loot a trailer conveying foodstuffs from the South
The Governor while reacting to the protest in a media briefing at the government house shortly after the weekly state executive council meeting claimed that some people had alerted the women who immediately mobilized and blocked the highways as early as 7:00am.
He said they were later joined by the youths, adding that “they were told that a trailer loaded with some essentials was heading towards Minna insisting that they had planned to loot the items hence the decision to block the roads.
He disclosed that a number of arrests have been made inconnection with the protest, stressing that the government is equally looking at various ways to address the current hardship and the rise in the price of food stuff in the market.
He nonetheless attributed the rise in the price of food stuff to the activities of middle men whom according to him go the village markets to buy and hoard these food stuff and possibly take them out to neighboring countries.
But the protesters who trooped out to the major highways the debunked governor’s claims, saying that their action was to register their frustration over the current hardship and the continue rise in the price of food stuff in the market, as the situation, they insisted was no longer bearable.
They also said the growing level of insecurity in the state and the county in general which has made lives miserable for the ordinary Nigerians, formed parts of their decision to defy the cold harmattan weather to draw the attention of government to the plight of the common man on the street.
According to them, farmers can no longer go to their farms, children forced out of school by Bandits and the highways are no longer save.
All the major highways leading to and from Minna, the state capital were completely blocked by the protesters, bringing vehicular movement to a standstill.
The placards carrying protesters with various inscriptions, some of which reads, “we are dying in hunger”, “food stuff no longer affordable for the common man”, “APC government has brought hardship to Nigerians”, “Bandits have taken over Nigeria”, among others, asked every passerby to join them rather than going to their place of business.
Some of the protesters who spoke to our correspondent vowed to continue with protest on daily bases until the current hardship is addressed by the government, adding that “Enough is Enough”.
“This is just the beginning of this protest and we will not stop until the government do something about this hardship. We are tired, people are hungry and are dying everyday.
“This continued rise in prices of food stuff is no longer bearable, there is hardship everywhere in the country. Ordinary Nigerians can no longer afford three square meals and the government does not care about what is happening.
“The leaders are only stealing the money in other to cope with the current situation not that they have solutions to it.
“Apart from the hardship, the insecurity has assumed a different dimension, the Bandits have chased farmers out of their farms, they have taken over Nigeria. People are being kidnapped from their houses in the night and the roads are not safe”.